I are a Welder

[El Jay]

I probably went to the same navy welding school as him, except his course was much longer and covered more materials and techniques. I had to do the mirror thing also. We had them mounted to magnets and then mounted a test pipe under the table in the corner of the booth. You had the bend the weld rod U shaped to reach the back then view in the mirror. It was fun because it didn't really matter at the time how it turned out.

If my memory serves, he started @ Mare Island Naval Shipyard, knowing nothing, or virtually nothing, about welding & went through their whole apprenticeship program.
When the shipyard closed and we got the "Peace Dividend", he got unemployed.

I asked him 1 time why you'd want to cut open a perfectly good pressure hull.
He explained that sometimes during repair, or retro fit, there was equipment that was to big to go through the hatches.
So he had to open a "door" through the hulls.
After the new equipment was brought in, he had to close the doors.

Like everybody else in that line of work, he was VERY, VERY dedicated to doing a more than excellent job.
He knew if he effed up, many people would die.

Strangely enough, I work with a feller whose brother worked with my friend.

This has become a more than interesting thread; even though I can't weld worth a darn anymore.

[El Jay]

it doesn't matter where you are on the grounds, you feel it in your chest like another heartbeat.

NO POOPS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Garagedude]

I love welding. I am currently going to college for stick welding. I have been MIG welding for years and that is really easy. Stick isn't too hard. the hard part is that we have to weld a root pass, then two over, then three over, and then we measure that with the fillet gauge and we have to be within a 1/16 tolerance thats hard. Especially when we are burning the 6010 electrode.